Oops! We Got Penguin - 3 Antarctic Adventure
by auroraminamino
Summary: As the penguins friend Athena takes a trip to Antarctica in place of a friend, the others try to make a new friend of another bird from there. When they find him trying to steal the thing that brought them & their human friend together all bets are off. It turns out that Hans is still angry at Athena for turning on him & shes in danger. Skipper & his team head out. Into a trap?


**Oops! We Got Penguin****#3:**

**Antarctic Adventure**

Athena went up to her room all jazzed up after the party she just had. She wasn't really sleepy, but the party was over and she wanted to do some practice writing. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Rory had been there. She was sick and couldn't even attend their graduation, the reason for the party. Her mood went a touch sour when she saw that her room was already occupied.

"Congratulations!" Team Skipper said as loud as they dared not wanting to be overheard.

"About time I saw you today!" said Athena crossing her arms. "I went to that closet we were to meet up in back at school and you weren't there."

"Sorry about that, but we saw Hans lurking about and we had to make sure he was dealt with." Private explained quickly.

"We did see you get your diploma though. That happened with oddly perfect timing. Hans didn't show up until after that." said Kowalski "Skipper thinks Hans is still mad at you for turning on him."

"But he didn't think this little revenge plan through so we easily took care of him and his knock out spray." finished Skipper "That being said he got away. Though just barely. We'd better keep an eye out for that crafty little con artist, though hes not as good as he thinks."

"Oh, I thought you guys flaked on me. Sorry about that." Athena said

"That makes sense, don't worry about it. One thing we did flake on is your neat tradition of giving presents on graduation, but that was out of lack of knowing." Skipper said looking a tad awkward at the end of his statement. He then took a kendo stick out of his feathers. Then Kowalski took out his favorite laser weapon. It wasn't charged very much now as he had used it during the scuffle with Hans on the roof tops outside as the event took place in the gym. Rico hacked up a bomb bundle making Athena jump.

"Oops! Wrong thing." said Rico with a laugh. The others snorted.

"Don't worry its not active." said Kowalski looking from it to her grinning.

"Yeah, still not used to that." said Athena making The Team snort again.

Rico then hacked up his favorite crowbar: "There we go!"

Private then pulled from his feathers his new Luna-corn. His teammates rolled their eyes at him.

"OK . . . So am I supposed to pick?" asked Athena confused.

"Nah, your supposed to hold on to them until we get you something you actually like, like collateral." Skipper said receiving an odd look. Athena knew that they felt bad about what happened today.

"You guys have a weird system, but I'll go with it." said Athena "And I'll make sure nothing bad happens to your stuff. Though I have to ask an odd question: Is the Luna-corn safe?"

Private giggled: "Course it is. Why would you ask?"

"Well, not to long ago I was babysitting for a few days as the parents had an emergency while I was there, hence I couldn't go to the museum with you-" The penguins grinned sensing where this was going. "-and I got attacked by the young triplets three Luna-corns. They ended up in the microwave after I chucked some glitter in there. The three of them shouted 'These sparkles are yummy!' just before I hit the popcorn button. I still owe them a new microwave as a matter of fact. I'll use some of the money my grandparents sent me to buy it, now that I just reminded myself." She raised as eyebrow at the penguins as they were now giggling at her.

"Looks like we have some explaining to do!" said Kowalski in a perky tone.

"Your first classified story!" said Skipper trying to calm down.

"I knew you guys had something to do with it! -(they giggled harder)- It will count as credit in the whole grad gift thing! Now tell me!" said Athena all excited. The Team snorted again then told the story she dubbed for the heck of it: The Almost Luna-corn Apocalypse. They found the name very amusing. She then gently tossed Privates toy back to him. He hugged it and it giggled. "Do you still have the sword."

"Yeah, he told us to guard it and no I don't use it for sandwiches anymore, only did that one time." Skipper answered with a slightly suspicious, though amused, look.

"I thought that was rather fitting really." she said grinning. "Skipper can have his kendo stick back if he lets me see it, the sword." She then stared at Skipper straight on.

"You have one heck of a poker face." said Skipper "Sure, but you tell no one! Its classified."

"Yes!" said Athena pumping her fist. Skipper snorted then caught his kendo stick as she tossed it to him. "OK well- oh you guys will appreciate this! There was a contest that Rory won. It was an essay contest, which I entered too. The prize was if you won you could go to Antarctica with a research team and help them out and learn lots of nifty stuff!"

"Nifty?" Skipper asked with a tilted head.

"Yeah, its a word." said Athena

"Yeah I know, just never heard you use it before." Skipper shrugged "But ah, the penguin mother land! Lucky her!"

"Not all types of penguins come from there you know." said Athena "And its mostly the three footers that do."

"Anyway, when is she going to go provided shes well enough?" asked Kowalski "We didn't see anyone matching her description at the graduation so we assumed that she was sick or something."

"Next week, but I don't think she will be well enough to go, though she will recover don't worry." Athena answered "That being said I think shes up to something. She be scheming!"

"Next week eh? That's Team Building Week!" said Skipper

"Why dose that fill me with dread?"

"Just avoid the zoo next week! I beg you!" said Kowalski suddenly latching onto her arm. They were all sitting on her bed by this time.

"Dramatic little guys aren't you?" They grinned at her. "Ah I like dramatic pronouncements." The Team snorted as she had Kowalski perch on her knee as she was sitting Indian style.

"As do we!" they replied grinning.

"So what do you think Rorys up to?" asked Skipper

"Something crazy. Shes always coming up with something weird for us to be doing. Shes fun!" said Athena grinning. "No wonder I get along with you guys so well!" Athena then snorted. They spent the rest of the time talking about all sorts of stuff. Though Skipper avoided what Team Building Week is. It was late when they realized that they had lost track of time. Kowalski had also fallen asleep still perched on Athenas leg. She grabbed him carefully so he wouldn't wake up and used him like a warm water bottle. "The heater has been acting up lately. Its not to cold at the moment, but its at the point when its a bit annoying." Although it wasn't to cold in New York this time of year it was just cold enough to be a bother late at night. Strange little cold snap Tony had called it.

"Its cool." said Rico as he put the blanket on the end of the bed on her shoulders. She scratched him under his chin as thanks. He grinned.

"Not a big fan of the cold huh?" asked Skipper He got a head shake as a reply. "Ironic since you hang out with us cold water birds and tried to win a trip to Antarctica."

"Well as to that-" They all looked at the door as from just outside they heard the floor creak. "Quick boys get in close!" They all did, then were surprised when she quickly got them all onto her lap with one arm, Kowalski was in the other one. Then to cover them up she completely wrapped up with the blanket.

"Ah, still awake sweets?" said her dad when he opened the door.

"Yeah, just still excited and I was trying out a new story planning trick I invented where you do it all out loud and do the voices of the people in the story so you can hear them and get into their heads better."

"As a way to flesh them out better? I could see that working. Also explains what I was hearing from the hall." he said grinning. "Anyway I think its time you get to sleep if you can."

"Yeah sure. Nighty night." said Athena grinning. Her dad grinned and shut the door behind him. She waited for a minute before opening the blanket.

"That was some quick thinking lady soldier." said Skipper grinning.

"Thanks." said Athena before Rico shushed them. They gave him a weird look. Rico then pointed out that Private too had fallen asleep. He was leaning on Athena cuddling his Luna-corn. "Almost to cute! You guys can sleep here. Yay, You can keep me warm!" They giggled as she was kind of kidding. They all cuddled up and went to sleep.

Athena called Tony the next morning to pick her up so they could take the penguins back to the zoo. The stayed in the backpack until they were a safe distance away from the house, then they chilled in the back seat and made jokes on Tony, as he was driving, about him being their butler. Athena laughed.

"You guys look more the part then I do tuxedo birds!" Tony finely retorted.

"Oh burn!" said Athena laughing harder. "That's good stuff!"

"Good come back Tony." said Rico The Team then climbed back into the backpack as the arrived. They paused only a second so Rico could hack up a key card to disarm the animal DNA activated security system. Then they went to the penguin habitat. Good thing the zoo wasn't crowded yet so no one saw the move from backpack to home and of course they stayed in a little known camera blind spot to do said transfer. They then just stayed there and talked.

"Hey, on the way in we saw that you have a new arrival from as you call it 'the penguin mother land', a skua!" Tony said

"Yeah we know. Hes been here for a bit." Skipper said "Our two species don't really get on."

"Well, at least you didn't say that hes a possible spy." said Athena grinning.

"I haven't said that he may not be." said Skipper without missing a beat. The humans snorted shaking their heads.

"What made you so paranoid anyway?" Athena asked Skipper didn't answer, but she got the feeling that it was Hans in Denmark.

"So why don't penguins and skua get on?" asked Tony

"Because during breeding season skua eat penguin eggs." said Athena

"Oh the lady knows her south polars!" said Skipper Athena grinned at him.

"OK, but not like you guys have to worry about that, your all guys. -(he turns to Athena)- Right?" said Tony smiling with a funny glance at Skipper. He had heard about the pretty pink bow. Athena playfully punched him in the shoulder. Skipper was about to retort, but then Rico whistled and pointed out the fact that Alice was coming.

"Why is it that whenever you two are here you always loiter around either this habitat or the lemurs?" she asked when she got there.

"The penguins are cute and cuddly in a feathery way and the lemurs are in a fuzzy way. It depends on our mood. Though we do check out all the animals." Athena said grinning. "How you always catch us at either one or the other is just weird timing."

Alice quirked an eyebrow at her then said "You guy are here so often people are starting to think that you work here."

Everyone grinned thinking: "Talk about the perfect cover!"

"Why do you say that?" said Athena sounding so innocent that Team Skipper nearly burst out laughing.

"Because one: when we were unloading the new bird people were asking where you guys were as if you were supposed to be on shift. -(much sniggering followed)- and two: Athena has a phone call on the office phone! Your cell is dead, FYI. That's why she resorted to the other." Alice answered "Bet it was one of the people who thinks you work here who gave you that!"

Athena snorted then said "OK then I'll go see the newbie to the zoo later. Take me to the phone."

"OK then, meet me by the new bird when your done." Tony said He gave the penguins a little covert wave before he walked away.

_Elsewhere_: Alice took Athena to the office phone.

"There you go chat it up." Alice said "I'll leave you to it. I have to go hose down the rhino."

"Right, see you later then." Athena then went for the phone. "Hello? Whose this?"

Her reply was: "Its me Rory."

"Hey you sound much better! I'm glad!" said Athena

"Yeah, but I'm still not going to be able to go on that Antarctica trip though." said Rory

"Awe, poor Rory. You can't see it but I'm making the sad face for you." said Athena

On her end Rory grinned: "Thanks, hey you need to get here I want to talk to you about something."

"What you have a crush on Tony? Yeah I already know that." said Athena She then giggled: "I can hear the blush forming!"

"You'll find out when you get here." said Rory clearly annoyed. She didn't have a crush on Tony, but Athena liked to mess with her like that.

Athena laughed silently: "OK, OK I'll be right up after I see the new zoo critter."

"OK then see you soon." They both hung up after that.

_Elsewhere_: Tony was looking at the skua. He thought the brown, white and black bird was kind of pretty. Of course the fact that he just finished growing his feathers back from his last molt may have helped. He was in a big glass enclosure that was big enough for him to fly around in. Though at the moment he was sitting near the humans preening.

"Hey, hes not bad looking!" said Athena walking up. "But hes not as cute as our guys." This she added in an undertone to Tony, who grinned. She waved at the bird when he looked at her, she got a head tilt.

"Team Skipper is the cutest that's for sure." This was whispered then he spoke normally: "So who was that on the phone?"

"Rory, she says she wants to talk to me about something. How did she get the number here?" Athena asked

"I don't know, she can be sneaky when she wants to be though, so I've heard." Tony grinned "Well then, lets head out! Got to get you to Rorys!"

When they got there Rory immediately pulled Athena into her room and slammed the door in Tonys face. He just laughed and went to wait on the couch. For the next few minutes Athena was victim to a whirl wind of things that went so fast she couldn't really follow and couldn't get away from. By the end of which Athena was standing next to Rory looking into a full length mirror. Her hair was in a tightly wrapped braid clipped flat to her head and under a long blond wig that was likewise clipped into place. She had padding on her shoulders, her torso and legs. (Rory was a bit heaver then she was) Which was held in place by ties and a tight full body leotard. Over the top were two layers of super warm cloths and Rorys new thermal coat that Athena herself bought her for the trip to Antarctica.

"Wow! I should so be a movie costume designer!" said Rory "Good thing we sent in such fuzzy phone pictures of ourselves for this thing and that padding will be nice and warm!"

"Oh no I can see where this is going! I don't think this is a good idea." said Athena "Though I must say nice job on the disguise!" This statement was immediately follows by the thought of: "Ah man, I'm turning into Skipper!"

"Awe come on! We've been talking about this trip for ever since we entered! I can't go, but you can! And make sure you take plenty of pics for me!" Rory then tossed her the new camera she bought with a high capacity memory card. "Besides you know more about that frosty land of penguins then I do anyway. That's why I was so shocked when they picked me instead."

"I knew you were up to something and way to use all that against me! I have to wonder how many rehearsals that took." said Athena grinning. Rory blushed slightly, but didn't say anything. "So what about my parents? I think they might notice that I'm not around. -(Rory grinned, Athena slumped slightly)- You already got me that cover story didn't you?"

"I am good! I told them since your the runner up and I can't go its open to you! They were fine with it."

"Is there anyway to beat you? At all?"

"Nope! Like I said, I am good!" said Rory grinning.

Athena thought about it and was about to say 'No' when not only did Skippers mentioning 'Team Building Week' cross her mind, but Rory had a coughing fit. Athena was glad that she wasn't contagious. That was the only thing they knew about what she had. Other then that it was easily taken care of much like a normal, if very bad, cold. Athena sighed knowing that Rory had wanted to go more then she did and couldn't. "Oh all right I'll go for you, but you so owe me one!" she said when the blondes coughing fit was over.

"Yay! Whose the best-est friend ever!" She then glomped Athena, almost knocking her over. Athena laughed and hugged her back, somewhat reminded of Mort. Julian would be rolling his eyes right now! "OK time to get you all packed! I also told your parents that you will be leaving from here since I was all ready to go. So I could just give you what I got. They both have super important meetings and can't see you off though."

"Wait-what?!" asked Athena, not that Rory heard her just then.

Rory then went to the door and called to Tony to get the food she set aside packed, which included some frozen Peanut Butter Winkys, which were probably that last survivors in the whole of New York as the factory shut down. Some extra cloths were also packed. Before Athena knew it she was dragged by a PJ wearing Rory out to Tonys car as he put the packed stuff into the trunk. With her yelling: "OK now get moving! The boat is due to depart soon!"

"Wait I thought it was next week!" said Athena shocked.

"I read my ticket wrong because I was so excited when I read it over the phone at you when I got it. Now move it!" She all but stuffed Athena into the passenger seat. The two hugged then Tony and Athena were off, heading for the docks.

They were about half way there when Athena posed a question: "You were in on this weren't you?"

"I'm proud to say that I was." said Tony grinning at her for a second.

"Fine then, this means you get to go to something Skipper calls 'Team Building Week', which he moved for me to this week he told me this morning, as you'll be there anyway to let then know that I haven't been kidnapped by their evil dolphin nemesis again." said Athena grinning.

"And that would be?- Wait the guys have an evil dolphin nemesis that captured you?!" asked Tony

"Don't know, but your going to find out and yes. You were in the Florida Everglades when that happened." Athena said grinning more as she decided to not mention Kowalski clutching her arm. Her grinning made Tony a bit nervous. When they got to the docks the two hugged.

After she was out and he got her stuff from the trunk, adding the two things she got from the penguins before, he said "And no commandeering the boat for a joy ride OK?"

"Ruining my fun, but alright. Just this once though!" said Athena jokingly with a fake huff of annoyance. They both laughed.

"Well see you when you get back and keep warm." said Tony

"I love me a challenge! Bye bye now!" the two had a high five then she left to get checked in and board. Leaving Tony standing there slightly confused by those words. Athena got on the boat without a hitch as the disguise was so good and the picture they had was fuzzy. She went to make herself acquainted with the research team she was going to be with. They were in the galley, the ships kitchen.

"Ah so your the lucky contest winner!" said a girl who introduced herself as Megan.

"Yup, that's what they tell me." said Athena grinning.

"I'm surprised that they still even did the contest." said another team member that said his name was Jeremy.

"Really?" asked Athena and someone else named Ash.

"Oh yeah, because our servers got hacked not to long ago." said Megan

"Ash, you need to read the newsletter man!" said Team Leader Morty.

"What kind of hack was it?" asked Athena

"That's the thing it was some weird virus that didn't do anything that was bad. Just played weird videos. It was called something like the S. N. A. H. Well it had those letters in it I know that much." said the main equipment tech Jason.

"Someone has some time on their hands!" said Athena with a snort.

_Elsewhere_: It was six days after Athena left and Private was trying to get Skipper to let them all go see the zoos newest resident. As he was always eager to make friends.

Skipper 'raised an eyebrow' at him: "Private you know how I feel about that species of bird."

"Well, yeah but hmm-" Private took a second to think. "Lets ask Kowalski."

"Alright then-" He turned in the tall penguins direction. "Kowalski, Intel me!"

"Alright!" He got his clipboard from the table. "My Intel shows that our skua was hatched and raised in captivity. Odds are hes never even seen a penguin egg let alone eaten one." said Kowalski "Also he has never gotten to stay at a zoo for any kind of extended period, outside the hatchling stage, hes always been moved around. Had a run of bad luck with zoos closing apparently."

"Awe!" said both Rico and Private with sad faces.

"Huh, you don't say." said Skipper with a blink of surprise. Then Private gave him doe eyes. "Alright Young Private we can go."

"Yay!" said Private with a grin.

They headed over just after closing to find Marlene there talking to him at a high volume so he could hear her, as it turned out the enclosure wasn't completely sound proof. She was telling him about the lemurs who hadn't visited yet, unlike most of the other zoo animals.

"Hey are those the penguins Lenard said I should steer clear of?" shouted the skua. Rico rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but don't forget he told you to steer clear of me and I'm nice." said Marlene She then turned to The Team: "I'm surprised to see you guys here, but happy. This is Ralph, our new neighbor."

"Yeah well, Private and Kowalski convinced me. So uh Ralph could we ask you a few questions?" said Skipper

"Oh boy! Try to keep your paranoia in check would you?" said Marlene

"Not to worry Marlene." said Skipper grinning at her for a second.

"Go ahead." said Ralph in a cheery tone.

"Have you ever been in or around the Hoboken Zoo?" asked Skipper

"Hoboken has a zoo?" said Ralph tilting his head.

Skipper grinned at that.

"How many time have you been transferred?" asked Private

"I gave up keeping track, lets just say to many."

"How much do you know about penguins?" said Kowalski

"Not much besides we are both from Antarctica and the fact that they eat fish. I for one love fish, all I've had up until coming here is bland high protein pellets." said Ralph "Nutritious yes, tasty no."

"They tried something like that with us once. They were shaped like fish though." said Private

"Yukky!" said Rico making a face. All the fish eaters grinned.

"The other thing I know about penguins is that they pride themselves for their cute and cuddly antics and such." Ralph then said.

This statement caused Marlene to blink. How was she the paranoid one here suddenly?

"Everyone knows that." said Kowalski grinning. He waved his wing in a somewhat dismissive way.

"Yeah your human friends seem to agree." said Ralph He received some odd looks. "Well I assumed they were yours anyway after talking to Marlene. They were in here six days ago."

"You told him about, uh the other two team members?" asked Skipper He was trying not to give to much away.

"I was careful with what I said when he asked about them, but no. Seems they've made friends with at least most of the zoo."

"Oh, well good on them." said Skipper

"How could you hear them through the glass? They are careful about talking about us." said Kowalski

"I'm a skilled lip reader and I get bored just sitting in here all the time." said Ralph

"Kowalski is too!" said Private

"Neat! Now that I know who the human friends are I won't do it to them anymore, don't want you guys mad at me." said Ralph with a nervous laugh.

Skipper grinned then asked "Are you shy?"

Ralph blinked at him: "Not really why?"

"We haven't seen you flying around the zoo after hours is all."

"Oh, that's what we were talking about just before you guys came in. He can't get out." said Marlene

"Awe!" said Private

Skipper gave him a pat on the shoulder then shouted: "Lock pop latter go!" The four of them the stacked themselves up with Rico on top. Who bit down with freakish power and lock was gone in less then a second then Marlene opened the small glass door. She dismissed her weird feeling from before. Maybe it, the feeling, was because she was hungry. It was specially made so when a zoo keeper leaned in from about the waist up when feeding or cleaning Ralph couldn't get out. He of course could now though. "Come on com-padre, we have some sweet buttery Alaskan salmon waiting for us back at HQ with your name on it."

"Haven't had any of that kind yet!" said the skua as he fluttered to the ground.

"Huh, didn't see that invite coming." said Marlene

"Well, Kowalski gave us the Intel on him and he answered what we asked him without a problem, so why not." said Skipper "Athenas been hinting lately that I need to be just a bit more trusting."

"Yeah I heard she burned you on the last mission you brought her on to get you back for making jump through hoops to get to barrow her friends Rorys scooter because your car was on the fritz while Tony came up with a cover story for her as it was his turn." said Marlene as they started toward HQ.

"Yeah, I made it up to her later though. Scored her some premo movie tickets. She wants to bring Rory into the fold." said Skipper "But yeah she got me good, the boys almost blew our cover they were laughing so hard. She even got me with a 'tell the Denmark story' pitch at the same time."

"Nice!" said Marlene with a snort. "If your going to get busted might as well be worth it."

"That's an interesting way to think of it. I told her I'd think about it and told her to bring her to the zoo more often for observation." said Skipper with a cunning type grin.

"Sounds fair."

They didn't talk much more on they way to HQ. Ralph didn't really favor that fact that it was underground: "Guess I'll just have to get used to it." They ate themselves silly of fish then watched some movies via TiVo. They talked some too. By the time their last movie ended it was really late and Ralph was practically falling asleep on the floor, so Private made him a little nest, just like he did for Athena when spent the night. That was when she was in penguin-ized. When she wasn't she'd sleep in the tunnel behind the big fish in a sleeping bag. For some reason that was her favorite tunnel. Thanks to the odd little cold snap she hadn't been lately though. He then wondered how she was doing on her trip. Tony had come by around lunch and told them the day she left. Then he got a little taste of team building week, Skipper started it a bit early just for him and Athena. He had been in a mood! Once their guest was comfortable Skipper informed him that he needed to get up bright and early so he could get back to his habitat so the staff didn't notice that he was gone. Something about the grin he gave Skipper didn't sit well with Marlene. The same feeling she got before came back to her again.

She pulled him aside and spoke quietly: "Skipper, dose he seem a bit to smooth to you?"

Skipper had the good form of trying not to laugh: "Now whose the paranoid one?"

"Alright I guess I deserved that, but I just got a funny feeling about him." said Marlene with a small shrug.

Skipper tilted his head at her: "I'll put the bases defenses up so if he tries something we will wake up. Feel better?"

"Yeah, see you in the morning then guys." She waved at everyone as she left.

As the guys went to bed Skipper did as he told Marlene he would, as he was doing just that he consulted is gut to see what it thought of the skua. It was neutral, not good, not bad. He didn't really know what to make of that, but it did tell him something might happen and to be frosty. He went to bed like the others thinking about it. He was the last to fall asleep because of that.

Ralph woke up in the very early morning and carefully used the wall to push off so he could glide over the floor and land in the safe place, as in where the traps couldn't go active and get him. Even the penguins had blind spots and they were useful! "Just like he said! Nice." Ralph thought He then carefully hacked up a small lamented map very much like Rico. He was checking it for the same things in the hallway, there were traps there too. He then went in and made it to Kowalskis lab. "OK I'm supposed to take the purple tuba looking thing because it was the thing that made it so the penguins met the human female part of their team. So he wants it to be the thing that rips that apart. Poetic in a dark way I have to say." He found The Penguin-izer with little problem. "I wonder why its purple?" Ralph continuing to think out loud giving the device a look.

"Its because I was a little tired of pink, but at the same time I didn't want it to clash." came Kowalskis voice. The tall penguin had his wings crossed. Ralph spun around amazed that he was caught. "I up graded my lab. If I have it set right when someone is in here the floor sends a signal to my smart phone. I had it on vibrate so it wouldn't wake up the guys. Thanks for helping me test it."

Assuming Kowalski was going attack him he puffed himself up to try to get him to back off. Likewise Kowalski thought he was going to attack him so he round housed him into the wall and stood ready thinking he was going to bounce off and come at him. He didn't expect Ralph to stay there and yell: "Don't hurt me!" and put his wings over his head.

The yell woke the others up and they came running. Kowalski quickly glanced over his shoulder at them.

"What in the name of fish coffee is going on?" asked Skipper

"I - got - a - signal - that - someone - was - in - here - and - came - in - and - saw - him - trying - to - make - off - with - The - Penguin-izer. - Heard - him - saying - something - about - tearing - us - and - Athena - apart. - His - boss - whoever - that - is, - is - darkly - poetic. - Then - I - kicked - him - thinking - he - was - going - to - attack - me." Kowalski quickly explained.

"Take a breath Kowalski!" said Private

"I didn't think you could fight." said Skipper

"So dose that mean your not going to beat me into a pulp?" asked Ralph

"Depends." grunted Rico with a nasty look on his face.

Ralph gulped: "Depends on what?"

"We need Intel on whats going on, how much you lied, all that good stuff." said Skipper

"Oh, that's the thing I didn't lie." said Ralph "I just didn't tell you certain things. I didn't have to, you didn't ask."

"I hate to say it, but depending on what he says he may be right." said Private

Skipper shot him a look then they all turned to look up as the heard Alice yelling to another co-worker topside. After quickly telling Rico to tie up their former guest. Three of them went topside to see what she was yelling about.

"I can't believe that we were hacked! The first thing that was sent was some thing that called its self H. A. N. S. It cluttered up the system with weird videos then the records were different. It made it to look like that skua never arrived and made a shipment of fish bigger. It was such a small and dumb change, the second one, that I almost didn't notice!"

"So what was the second thing that was sent?" asked her co-worker

"That was something that called itself H. A. N. S. C-O-L-D It sent a grad pic of Athena and a screen saver that repeated something in danish. I translated it via the net and it meant: 'The penguin mother land - Never swim alone.' Annoying and weird!"

"But nothing bad happened? No crashing or mass deleting?" The male staffer looked very confused now. He got a head shake from Alice. "Someone has some time on their hands!" Just then a third person who just got on shift came and reported that the skua was missing.

"The puffin!" Skipper said loudly. Private held his beak shut and Kowalski got in front of them to hide it. As the zoo keepers glanced around wondering who said that. Only Alice looked in their direction. Kowalski smiled and waved at her. Then they walked away to investigate the scene. Once they were a safe distance away the three jumped back down into HQ.

"Alright now, spill your gizzard!" Skipper shouted He, like the other two, were thinking that Athena was in danger and that Hans was telling them to go to Antarctica.

"A puffin named Hans, hes got my Granny. He got her on our last transfer. I don't even know where we were going." said Ralph

"Before Skipper blows a gasket tell us everything." said Kowalski

"OK, see he hacked this system to make sure that someone named Rory, who he had been watching, won some contest."

"OK, why?" asked Private looking a bit confused.

"So he could make her sick and Athena your human friend would go. He made me contaminate her aloe juice." said Ralph He blinked at the penguins who looked a bit weird. "What? Hes got to much time on his hands, or rather wings. He watched Rory for a long time to get to know her."

"That's not why we are looking weird. Kowalski how would one juice an aloe plant?" asked Skipper

"Use a blender?" Kowalski shrugged

"Wow, Rory is weird!"

Rico grinned at that thought.

Ralph snorted: "Same thing I thought. Anyway Hans knew that if Rory couldn't go on the trip he made her win that she would somehow make Athena go in her place. Hans then wanted me to bring him that Penguin-izer to get you guys to also go to the penguin mother land. I was then to hop the next flight down there. After taking it I was supposed to leave this note, written in tiny pictures, that says whats going on." He then hacked up said note.

Rico got a bit annoyed by it and grumbled: "Hey, that's my trick!"

Skipper ignored it and turned to Kowalski: "When is the next flight down to Antarctica?"

Kowalski took out his smart phone to check as he didn't know things like that off the top of his head. He was disappointed by the answer he had to give his commander: "The winter is really bad down there. Lots of flights have been canceled. The next sure one is not for another six days! And by my calculations from the day she left Athena will be there by then! Don't forget she has a six day head start."

Skipper took a moment to think then perked up: "Kowalski! Did you get around up grading to the sub? We could get there in a day if you had!"

Kowalski grinned: "Yes I did! Got the design we used to escape Monty Carlo perfected and installed into the sub last week. Forgot to tell you, my bad."

"You included a braking system this time right?" asked Private looking a bit nervous. Kowalski grinned then nodded.

"OK then, ready the sub we are headed to . . . dramatic pause . . . Antarctica!" said Skipper

"Oh goodie! We might get to see Hunter!" said Private clapping. "But wait wouldn't it be better if we headed off the ship Athena is on then take Hans down?"

"Odds are hes watching the harbor that Athena is going to land in or is on the ship himself. If we go after that ship he will know we are on to him on the chance my untested upgrade to the sub is faulty. It hasn't been tested yet." said Kowalski "Besides if it dose go off without a hitch why ruin Athenas trip?" He added with a shrug.

"Oh, so we are taking The Penguin-izer too?" Private then asked.

"If we are going to make this work we don't have a moment to loose!" said Skipper "And yes we will be using it as bait along with our new double agent friend here!" He leaned in at Ralph a bit as he said it. "You do know where his hideout is going to be, yes?"

Ralph, who was pretty scared at this point nodded: "I'm to send a puff of colored smoke to let him know that I'm there with the goods. Then hes to come get me and we head for the hideout." He then demonstrated by hacking up a canister of blue smoke. Rico panicked and put the HQ on lock down thinking Ralph was going to make a run for it. This caused them all to hack on the smoke since it couldn't escape either. Once Rico was sure that the skua hadn't budged Rico released the lock down.

"Perfect! We will simply follow you there." said Skipper after he recovered and shot Rico a look. Rico shrugged at him.

"One quick question before we ready the sub. I know that puffins come from cold northern regions, but even they can't take the projected record matching cold of this years Antarctica winter. So how did he solve that problem?" said Kowalski

_Elsewhere_: Hans was looking into a full length mirror at himself. He was wearing a special thermal suit he had made that would keep him warm during his stay in Antarctica. He was annoyed that it made him look a bit robotic and made it hard to fly, but he only needed it for a short time so Hans figured he could deal with it. After putting it through a final test with his ice ray he went outside of the little abandon house he was using for a hideout to talk to his associates: a gang of leopard seals. They set up attack patterns to negate Team Skippers.

"Then when they are taking care of we get fed for our trouble!" said one of the seals happily.

"That's right!" said Hans grinning as he tried to suppress an evil laugh. He was planning on having Athena watch that part before she was penguin-ized and tossed as dessert. That's what she gets for turning on him! One member of the gang of leopard seals didn't think much of this plan and left saying that it was a 'call of nature' as cover.

_Elsewhere_: It was early morning and all was calm in the southern land of ice as Team Skipper made land fall a day later. They were really tired from traveling and put the hidden sub on lock down so they could get some rest. They were none to trusting of Ralph, who they now had locked in the on board brig, as he had gotten more and more nervous the closer they got to Antarctica. The buzz of a helicopter got the penguins up. They got out of the sub to see what was going on.

"Kowalski! Analysis!" said Skipper as the helicopter got closer to them.

"That could be a research helicopter! Rico binoculars!" Kowalski quickly shouted. After three tries, first being his own kendo stick, second being a pile of fish, third being a hammer, he got the binoculars and tossed them to Kowalski in time for him to see that Athena was in the helicopter as it flew overhead. The others knew what he saw by his high pitched yelp and whole body twitch.

"Men our lady soldier is in danger! We have to take Hans down pronto!" said Skipper in his most commanding voice. The other three nodded quickly stood at attention and saluted. Then they went to get the skua and The Penguin-izer. When they got him and it they hid the sub with chunks of ice Rico cut with his chainsaw, then went a short distance away from it. Then Skipper and the boys hid themselves to wait for Hans, leaving Ralph and the device in the open. Skipper tilted his head when Ralph didn't do anything for a moment: "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Ralph looked at them for a moment with a sad face then hacked up a canister of smoke, but this one was purple not blue. Immediately the penguins knew that something was wrong and moved in to grab the skua when he suddenly threw The Penguin-izer over himself and flew for it with speed that was equal to theirs. They didn't know he could move like that and they all bashed into each other in the purple smoke that was also much thicker then the blue that they saw back in HQ. They all nearly panicked when they heard the roar of a few leopard seals closing in on them.

"We have been double crossed men! Split up, Private with me Rico with Kowalski! We meet back here at *1300 hours!" said Skipper (*1:00pm) He and his youngest soldier then belly slid into the frozen wilderness.

The Lieutenant and demolitions expert jumped into the first small enough for them not to be followed hole in the ice they found and swam for their lives nearly inhaling a good amount of ocean, from almost screaming underwater, when they were suddenly cut off by yet another leopard seal!

_Elsewhere_: A storm was kicking up on the research grounds and they were making for camp when they came upon a cliff face that was made of ice.

"Ah crud!" said Morty

"What we lost?" asked Athena trying to hide how cold she was.

"No, but I was hoping that we didn't get dropped where we did because of that, -(points at cliff)- I was thinking we got dropped in a better spot but we didn't. See, we have to climb that to get to our base camp. Lets hope we get up there before the storm gets to bad." explained Morty

"Hopefully your good at climbing." said Ash

"Finally all that playing with Ring-er-Julian and his friends will pay off!" said Athena

"Ah, you got friends that climb huh? Handy!" said Megan

"Oh yeah you don't know how handy! Those guys practically grew up in the trees!" said Athena with a grin as she was trying not to laugh at her own little inside joke. She then thought "Oh my kingdom for a penguin grappling gun! It would be so much faster in this cold!" The cold was really starting to get to her now. A couple of the others were a bit worried about her. She had told them to relax though. After all they had been here before and she hadn't was the line she liked to use on them. Said line was almost always followed by the thought of: "Rory so owes me for this!" Though Athena had to admit this was interesting and she had taken a good amount of pictures thus far.

They had just finished harnessing up for their ice cliff climb when Jason posed a question: "Why do have a crowbar on your belt? That didn't come from me." Said item was of course Ricos.

"Oh that, I got it from a buddy of mine back home before. I figured it might come in handy." said Athena She also had Kowalskis laser weapon hidden in her leotard. She had charged it up a bit on the ship. She didn't know what she would use it for but she figured that it couldn't hurt to bring.

"You sure got some weird friends." said Megan

"Oh you got no idea! Besides you did pick me up in New York City." said Athena with a snort.

Jeremy snorted too: "She has a point!" The others grinned at that. Then they started their climb, going in the order of seniority. Which meant that Athena was last in the line.

"Your teams version of hazing I'm sure!" said Athena with mock annoyance when she found out. They others had laughed.

"Kind of yeah!" said Ash in a perky tone. Athena rolled her eyes at him.

As they climbed she saw that the cliff of ice was not sheer like it looked from the ground, but had caves in it that made handy foot and hand holds. Morty said that it had melted that way during the summer. That was the last time they spoke to each other since they needed to concentrate as the storm was getting worse. They were about half way up when Athena felt the central line go a bit loose. She was about to look up figuring they were at the top when it suddenly let go and she fell. The crack sound making her jump, which made her slip.

"A grappling gun would be really handy about now!" Athena said to herself. She then went for Ricos crowbar on her belt and with as much force as she could jammed the bent end of it into the ice. She stopped suddenly as it got caught in a large crack. It left a gouge in it before that. Athena sighed with relief thinking that she owed Rico one, then started to climb again using the crowbar like an ice ax. She hoped that the research team would be up there waiting for her because they felt the rope snap or were taking a break when she got close to the top as it was getting hard for her to see. Those hopes were dashed when she got there. The storm was so bad now that there weren't even footprints. "Fish and chips man! I'm in so much trouble!" She took a few deep breaths to calm down. "OK they said that their camp is straight on after the cliff so all I got to do is keep a straight line! Easy, I hope." So she stared to trudge through the snow after putting her snowshoes back on. They all had to take them off for the cliff climb.

It wasn't to long before the rush from her fall wore off and she was shivering badly. It was then that she found a use for Kowalskis laser, like him back in her room. She turned it on through the leotard, after a little maneuvering and it started to warm her up instantly. "Kowalski you little genus you!" She then started to walk again thinking: "Bring it on Momma Nature! Bring it on!" Though it wasn't to long after this that she found that she was most likely lost. A strong gust of wind blew her into a huge chunk of ice: "Hoover Dam! Oh nice, I can use the laser to make me an ice cave!" She was about to do just that when something was blown at her from out of nowhere she caught it just as she got hit in the face: "What the deuce?! -(blink-blink)- Wow I really am turning into Skipper!"

"And you sounded just like him that time too!"

"Private?! What in the name of incense and peppermints? -(makes slight face)- And again!"

Private laughed then he responded when they heard Skipper calling for him. He belly slid up: "Fancy meeting you here lady soldier!"

"OK there is obviously some kind of story here, but we need shelter first." she said quickly going for the laser.

"I got this!" Skipper said quickly guessing what she was going for. He pulled one of the teams flamethrowers out of his feathers. Athena and Private grinned as she stepped aside. Skipper made a hole in the giant chunk of ice that was big enough for the them. Now out of the wind they felt a lot better. Skipper and Private then used snow to seal the entrance.

"And that will help keep what little heat we got from escaping." said Private

"Nice, so where are the other two?" asked a shivering Athena. There was just enough light coming through the ice for the three of them to see. The two penguins got into her jacket to help keep her warm, figuring out now that she was very sensitive to the cold.

"Since we need to stay here to wait for the storm to blow off, we might as well start from the beginning." said Skipper Him and Private then told her what had happened to get them there. They figured that the leopard seal were there to capture not eat them. Skipper was surprised the same thing didn't happen to Athena yet. It was a later possibility they would have to be ready for. Then she explained that the engine in the ship she was on had conked out so the Antarctica Coast Guard equal sent out choppers to evacuate the ship, with the exception of the work crew after the ship was anchored. They had plenty of food and water on board and it was in calm seas. The only thing wrong was the engine nothing else.

"So that's why your here early!" said Private

"Yup, would rather it had been on time though that way I would have been able to at least get somewhat used to the cold gradually." said Athena in a grumpy tone. Though thanks to her teammates in her jacket her shivering had gotten better. She then told the guys how she got separated from the research team. Skipper then left her jacket to get a closer look at the broken rope that was still attached to the harness she was still wearing.

"Smoked salmon!" shouted Skipper suddenly making the other two jump.

"What is it Skipper?" they asked at the same time.

"Hans is better then I thought!" he said giving the rope to Athena to look at. The side of the rope was burned just enough to make it snap the way it did. The burn itself looked like a brand in the image of Hans.

"How did he-?!" said Athena "He must have been that odd increase of weight the chopper pilot was talking about. He must have gotten onto it when we dipped low over the harbor and was dropped off with us then waited for just the right time by hiding in those caves on the cliff face while we were donning our gear. Then he took off so I wouldn't spot him during my solo climb. Oh, clever puffin!" There was a pause then Athena said "You know to demonstrate just how clever he is feel free to jump in at anytime with the Denmark story Skipper."

He made a face at her that made Private laugh: "You didn't think that would really work did you?"

"Eh, worth a shot." said Athena with a shrug, snorting alongside Private. Skipper just crossed his wings and shook his head at them hiding his slight amusement, after which he crawled back into her jacket again. They then sat and waited out the storm, the penguins meeting time with the other two flying by. They used the flamethrower to warm the place up slightly. Skipper was really careful. They kept themselves occupied by telling Athena mission stories. Some of her reactions to them were pretty funny. Like when they told her about 'The Big One' test, she wished she could have seen that one, then about what happened to Kowalski at the Winky factory, she was both amused and grossed out at the same time. It was then that she remembered that she had some Winkys with her. She divided them up among them. Private nearly blew a gasket e was so happy and ate them slowly. Then they told her about the time when they tried cloning a dodo. She was down right horrified! But she liked how it turned out. They then followed up with their second go around with Jiggles. They had already told her about the first one a few weeks back. She laughed so hard at the end that she had to be careful not to cry because of the cold.

When the storm had finally blown by it was after dark. It being just the right location and just being the start of winter allowed for a short stint of normal light dark cycles. The only reason they noticed as fast as they did was that they heard something outside, something moving around.

"Maybe Hans found us?" whispered Private

"I doubt it. That storm was rough and Skipper didn't find any trackers on me." whispered Athena

"I say we check to make sure. Now stay fr-er-on your toes." said Skipper

"Yeah, because we are frosty enough as it is." said Athena grinning at him as she knew what he stopped himself from saying. Private snorted as Skipper grinned. Athena then pushed the snow barricade down, watching it landed in a big pile. Then suddenly a seal popped out of it looking to be in a bad mood. "Ah! Leopard seal!" She grabbed the crowbar from her belt a bonked it on the head. Not to hard, just hard enough for it to hopefully get the message to back off. It wobbled with its tongue out for a second: "These are my penguins! Not your dinner!"

"Wait a second! Time out!" came a voice from under the snow. Kowalski and Rico then popped out of it. "This is Hunter. Shes a friend and won't hurt or eat any of us. She got us away from those other seals and got us through that storm. Then we started looking or you guys."

"Yeah, I still don't eat penguins. Yuck!" said Hunter making a face. She was almost fully grown now and a lot bigger then the last time Private and the others had seen her. Hence the two hadn't recognized her when they first saw her.

"Well, now I think that I have seen all the weirdness you guys got, expect Denmark of course. -(winks at eye rolling Skipper)- Hopefully I didn't hit you to hard."

"Nah I'm fine. No worries." said Hunter "And I don't think any one person will ever see all their weirdness."

"Eh, I like me a challenge." said Athena with a shrug.

"So we are your penguins now huh?" asked Kowalski tilting his head grinning.

Athena laughed: "I meant it as an affectionate thing and I was being protective. I guess I say weird things when I'm in that mode." She then shrugged.

"Well lady soldier, its good to know that you'd stand up to a leopard seal for us armed only with a crowbar." said Skipper grinning. Athena and the others grinned too.

"Its a good crowbar what an I say?" said Athena tossing it into the air and catching it.

"Don't kiss it though, you'd get stuck." said Rico with a laugh.

"Don't worry, it would have to buy me dinner first." Rico then burst out laughing.

"Well isn't she the quirky one." said Hunter grinning as they all went back into their shelter of ice. As the entrance was resealed with snow Hunter told the three that didn't know about Hans, his suit and his plan to out maneuver the penguins. Annoyingly she didn't know where the puffin was now though. "So its a good thing you'd be willing to battle leopard seals Athena, because odds are your going to have to."

"I bet I know where he is, the research teams base camp! Hence the reason he didn't want me there. I bet he has them all captured by now. I say its rescue mission time, assuming Hunter knows where the base camp is from here." said Athena

"Yeah, pretty much everyone, but you, knows where that is." said Hunter Athena fought hard not to make a face as the penguins grinned.

"No matter what though we need to get The Penguin-izer back. Who knows what he might do with it!" said Kowalski

"How is something that turns things into penguins dangerous?" asked Hunter who figured out the function of the device by its name.

"Its a piece of penguin technology in enemy hands-er-wings. Trust me Hans will think of something like . . . um . . . he could tweak it and fill the world with more crazy puffins like himself!" said Skipper his paranoia in high gear.

"Or more likely he'd hand it over to the penguin eating leopard seals so they can get an all you can eat buffet, after demonstrating on the research team first." Athena then shuddered at a sketchy image of said team as penguins dangling over hungry seals came to mind.

"That sounds like something that sicko would do!" said Skipper

"We'll sneak to the base camp as early as possible when the sun comes up. We we need rest now though." said Hunter She let Athena lean on her for some extra warmth for a bit. Then the two watched as Kowalski started do do some calculations.

"What are you up to Lt.?" asked Athena

"Trying to figure out about how cold its going to get in here to determine if its safe for you to go to sleep." said Kowalski He looked stoic on the outside, but Athena heard his slight fear while he was talking.

"So what am I going to be doing to keep warm in the extreme likely-hood that I can't go to sleep?" asked Athena

"Off and on training. That will warm you up."

"Something I always wondered, how do the humans take care of that problem at their camp?" asked Hunter

"Heaters and small generators to power them." said Athena her tone dripping with envy. She had asked on the boat on the way there.

"Well if its any consolation we are cold too." said Skipper half wishing he was in his nice warm bunk back in HQ.

"Not much seeing as you, my feathered foursome, are made for this place, but I see your point." said Athena with a slight grin at Skipper. She had him Rico and Private in her jacket. "Best Team Building Week ever though?" Tony told her what it was via a text when she was still on the ship. He had been exhausted, but wanted to warn her. Again she had been reminded of when Kowalski had dramatically grabbed her arm. She was annoyed now as she remembered that she had accidentally stepped on her phone on the ship in the rush to get off as she could have used it to be found.

"Can't argue that one." said Kowalski joining the others in her jacket. "Also no sleep for you."

"Awe ham steaks!" shouted Athena annoyed.

"Nice Skipper impression!" said Kowalski grinning.

"I try." She shrugged. The others laughed lightly. So the long night began. When Skipper thought she was getting to cold or to droopy he shout out a random exercise that was doable in the confines of their shelter. To keep herself from sweating she would take off her very top layer. Sweating would have been bad in this cold. It worked well to keep her warm and the penguins alert. She would put the jacket right back on after. Athena quickly found out that Skipper was one tough trainer. Though he was careful not to make himself and them to tired.

When they got hungry Hunter went and got them some fish. The penguins just ate them as is because being penguins they could. Athena had to clean her share with the knife she had been given by her human team first. It was so she didn't get sick. Then she had Rico give them a quick and careful shot with the flamethrower. That just warmed them up so she wouldn't feel colder from eating them when they were still ice cold. "I think I'm finely cured of my love of sushi boys." she said as she started eating. They grinned at her. Hunter ate the fish guts without a problem. She found them tasty. When she was dry Athena leaned on her again, with all four penguins in her jacket. She was glad that they had showed up when they did as she doubted very much that she would have made it if they hadn't. She carefully warmed their shelter with the flamethrower again grinning.

When the sun came up Athena found that it was easier to stay awake and let the penguins sleep in her jacket for a bit. Hunter and her talked about when they had first met them. They woke up just after that and liked that Hunter was really eager to get Hans now that she knew how tricky he was.

"Way to get her fired up lady soldier." Skipper said after letting loose one heck of a yawn. "Man I wish I could get me some fish coffee."

"Your not the only one, though I would add sugar and let Rico eat my fish." said Athena That being said she had more energy then she thought she would. The boy grinned at her for the fish comment.

"OK then Rico weapons check, while the rest of you gather what you need to if anything because we are moving out!" Skipper then said as he quickly shifted into commando mode and leaped from her jacket. The others followed suit. They gathered the small amount of things then Rico did a quick weapons check, nodding when he was satisfied. They ate the rest of the fish on their way to the base camp, with Hunter leading the way.

They all jumped for joy when they saw the camp in the distance. Hunter surprised them when she did a full blown back flip!

"Your so going to teach me that later!" said Athena grinning. Her and the penguins clapped, she bowed making them chuckle. Then suddenly from under the snow burst a bunch of leopard seals. Athena bit her tongue on another Skipper exclamation. The others were a bit disappointed by that, especially him because he was counting on her to do it too.

"Chips ahoy matey!" he then shouted.

"That's a new one!" she said with a laugh. (Hunter sweat dropped) "OK men and ladies just as we planned between training!" They nodded, Athena going for the trusty crowbar on her belt grinning like Rico. Said demolitions expert was hacking up weapons for the rest of them.

Said plan was when Skipper called out a maneuver they wouldn't do the one said, they would do a different one, almost like it was an alternate. They had rehearsed this during the down time they had back at the ice shelter. He'd call a name of one thing and they had to say what he really meant back to him. It was an idea Hunter came up with to counter the seals countering them and it through them for one heck of a loop. Which made some of them really angry because they had failed to catch Team Skipper the morning before. Athena acted as a support and helped the guys out of high danger in ways that were in accordance with the pattern they were using. In most cases knocking out the offending seal saying things like: "My penguins! I saw them first." then "his is a no cute and cuddly eating zone!" or "Would you like some tea with that lump?!" Private laughed at that one. Hunter helped when she could, but was careful not to give herself away because they may have use for someone on the inside later. She had an idea for in case they got caught and she needed to get out of the camp. Once the leopard seals were exhausted, beat up to the point they didn't fancy fighting anymore and out numbered anyway, thanks to Athenas crowbar technique, they took off.

"The camp is most likely in trouble! We should get a move on!" said Athena breathing hard. The penguins nodded at her. "Wait you guys aren't hurt or anything are you?"

"None of us are bleeding thankfully, thinking some bruised bones at the most, but there will definitely be bruises later." said Skipper in a matter of fact way.

"Well at least there's no blood, not that I'm squeamish, but I don't got anything on me that would help much if you guys had been." said Athena They nodded understanding then quickly moved out. When they got close Hunter went under the snow and dug her way through. She reminded the others of a mole. The penguin shook off the snow they had on them and jumped back into Athenas jacket.

"Warm and a good place to hide! I like it!" said Kowalski

"Well, you know me I'm the double threat type!" said Athena getting some laughs.

"Now just remember this could be a trap." said Skipper

"Rodger that." Athena said quickly as they were getting close. When they got there they were all shocked to see that it was perfectly fine. "Well, isn't that a tad anti-climatic?" The guys snorted at that. As Athena grinned and moved in with caution. Suddenly they heard a door close from behind Athena jumped and spun around to see Morty standing there.

"Athena?! I'm so happy that your OK!" he said running up to her. "The rest of the team is out on the ice on the spare snowmobiles looking for you! The others were left on the boat and are not hear yet."

"Oh so that's why this place is like a mini ghost town." said Athena in a casual voice. She could help but notice how old some of the small buildings were, but she knew that they were safe or they wouldn't be here as they were maintained. She figured that there maybe a bad floor board or two but that would be it.

"Yeah, they were supposed to send me hourly reports, but I think their radios to here are dead or its so cold the signal froze, -(Athena snorted)- so we got to wait until later for them to know that your back, hopefully the radios to each other are working." reported Morty as they started walking.

"Well that's convenient." Kowalski grumbled with sarcasm. Athena lightly slapped her jacket where he was. It didn't hurt him, but he knew it meant 'Shut it!'.

It was a good thing she was walking slightly behind Morty. He thought it was her: "Funny stuff girl! I didn't know that you could change your voice!"

"Oh yeah! I can do a good Drill Sargent too!" she said with a laugh. Then she shouted in her Skipper voice: "Now drop and give me twenty soldier!" Skippers mind was a bit blown as the others had to stifle laughs. They were covered by Athenas and Mortys laughs. They didn't walk for much longer when the got to a little shack that was just like the others, but it had her name on it.

"Well here's your home away from home! We all got our own and yes you got a heater." said Morty

"Yay!" said Athena She then dashed in. It was about fifty in the shack, that had a cot, a light and clock in there, but it felt like eighty compared to outside. "I could melt right now! Quite the spread you got here!"

"We got awesome funding for this trip." said Morty grinning when she peeked out at him. "How did you get through that storm anyway?"

"Luck and a little creativity." replied Athena "By the way wheres the bathroom?"

"It was the door I came out of before." he answered

"Cool, thanks."

"No problem, now warm up and come to see me in about an hour OK?"

"Rodger!" she answered in a perky tone. She couldn't help it as she was so jazzed at the thought of: "Sweet malted milk balls, I got heat!" She pulled her head back in and slammed the door accidentally before checking the place for surveillance devices. The penguins left her coat and jumping onto her cot when she didn't find any.

"What about 'this could be trap' did you not understand?" said Skipper a bit testy.

"I was being more careful then it seemed. Relax Skippy." said Athena grinning. The other three snorted at the face he made. Then he 'raised an eyebrow' at her in a skeptical way. "OK so me getting to warm up made it fly out the window a bit so sue me."

Skipper nodded looking satisfied that she admitted to that. Athena rolled her eyes at him. He grinned then spun around: "Alright men I got my freak on for some recon! Rico communicators and sunglasses its bright out there!"

"Right!" he said before hacking up enough sets for all that were present. Hunter already had a specially made communicator Kowalski made on the sub on the off chance they met up her and was scoping the place out on her own. He put it on her just before she went under the snow before. Athena caught hers while all but Kowalskis landed perfectly on them. His smacked him in the head hard enough to knock him down. While Rico hacked his straight up. His landed perfectly too.

Athena snorted at that whole thing and said "You guys got a kind of Men In Black thing working. I like!" She got a group grin for that.

"Alright boys two man teams, me and Private and Kowalski and Rico. We only talk if we need to, to limit detection." said Skipper

Private raised his wing then spoke when Skipper pointed at him: "What about Athena?"

"She is going to get a forty minute power nap if she can and then go see that team leader guy. She like Hunter is going to be hearing all that goes on with us." Skipper answered

"Yay! Me get sleep now!" She then carefully flopped on the cot next to them and fake snored loudly, making them laugh. "How am I going to wake up on time though?" Rico promptly hacked up a small alarm clock. "I should have known." she said with a quirked eyebrow as Rico set it.

He put the blanket on her and said "Nighty night!" before the fearsome feathered foursome split in half and went on recon. They would meet back there on Skippers order. Athena grinned then tired to go to sleep, but found that she was oddly wired, so she just basked in the warmth of her little shack, but her being wired made her a bit nervous though.

_Elsewhere_: Kowalski and Rico didn't find anything interesting until they found a shack that was about twice the size of the ones that were slept in. They carefully entered and Kowalski blinked and said "I suddenly feel right at home." Rico blinked rapidly at the lab they had found. It was really messy.

"I don't like this!" Rico said fast enough for it to be garbled went it came out.

Kowalski nodded then went for his communicator: "Kowalski to Skipper, we have found a laboratory, a small one." As he spoke in a hushed tone the two started walking.

"A lab?! Man who funds these guys?!" said Skipper as he and Private went into what looked to be the really small meeting place and mess hall. Private made a beeline passed Skipper for a case of the ever rare Peanut Butter Winkys. Hey were frozen but he didn't care. Skipper grinned, amused by that.

"I'd ask Athena that one, but anyway, it looks like there was a struggle in here!" said Kowalski staying on topic as Rico began looking around.

"OK then, investigate well then report back to Athenas." said Skipper

"Got it and you two?" asked Kowalski with a nod that was out of habit.

"I think we found a meeting spot that may have something good in it." said Skipper suddenly hearing a bit of static. "Kowalski?! Do you read me?!" He turned his back on his partner for a moment so he could focus on his Lieutenants voice.

"Yes, but little busy! - Ambush! - Rico! Look out!" Kowalskis voice was then gone to be replaced by static.

"Private! We got to move! The others are in trouble!" Skipper was about to shout as he spun around, but the last thing he remembered was hearing his youngest cadet shouting for him as frozen Peanut Butter Winkys flew though the air.

_Elsewhere_: Athena had jumped to her feet and gone for her jacket when Kowalskis communicator went to static the first time but suddenly felt a bit woozy before she got to the door. She had the feeling that her shack was being gassed.

"Oh this ain't going to be good!" Seemingly moments later Athena was woken up by the sound of the alarm clock that Rico had hacked up before. "That was one heck of a bad dream!" she said to herself without opening her eyes as she realized that she was not at all comfortable.

"Or was it?!" Her eyes snapped wide open when she heard Hans voice and the laugh that followed. She was hanging from the ceiling via a chain around her wrists. There was thick leather belt like thing secured to the wall to keep her from swinging. It wasn't all that tight. This fact she took fast notice of. Hans was talking to her on the labs flat screen. It was usually used for video conferences with the teams bosses and the like. Today it was showing the gloating face of Denmark's deadliest puffin.

"Man you set this whole thing up? You really do got to much time on your hands-er-wings!" said Athena trying to hide that fact that she was darkly impressed.

"Well that parts that count anyway. And making sure you were all a bit tired when you got her course. For the rest I used hacking!" he replied grinning. "And on Morty I simply switched his calming self help CD that he was going to use when he got here because he was worried about you with a mind bending mix of my own. Then I simply prompted him when you got here, after catching the rest of the team in that lab that tests plant samples and things like that."

"You know I was never a big fan of puffins. I find them kind of creepy looking, guess it reflects the inside of some of them. Though I must admit that was well played." said Athena glaring at Hans. He grinned. "So where are my teams?"

"Right here with me!" He then moved out of the way of the camera so she could see Team Skipper. They were tied to the ceiling with cable all crowded together though they were individually tied. They seemed to be in a track so they could be moved one by one. They were shaking themselves awake. Rico had a plastic tie strap on his beak.

"Biscuits and gravy!" Skipper shouted

From off camera Athena heard the human team shout: "Whoa!" It was all but Ash who then said: "Ha! I knew that most critters are smarter then was thought!" The camera was then turned so she could see them. They were in the same arrangement as the penguins in a dark corner, but they were still humans for the moment. Athena spotted The Penguin-izer sitting in plain view on a table between her two teams, Ralph was right next to it.

"Is that one your boyfriend or something?" Hans asked coming back into frame. Athena responded with the sink eye which he ignored as he moved on: "Now for one of the fun parts! Ralph you can do the honors this time but I get the next one!" Hans then winked at Athena.

"Skua!" said all members of Team Penguin loudly. Ralph flinched.

"Oh and Hans? The Sega company called, Egg-man wants his robot parts back!" said Athena in regards to the suit Hans was wearing that protected him from the cold outside.

"Oh momma, what a burn!" said Kowalski as everyone, but Hans, burst out laughing.

Hans got a nasty look on his face then signaled Ralph to hit the humans with The Penguin-izer, but it seemed to need charging according to the skua. Kowalski blinked a few times, but didn't say anything as they watched him put the thing up to an outlet, that was connected to a generator like they all were, and get a cord for it.

"Oh fine then so you get some time." said Hans blocking him from Athenas vision. "Your going to get quite the show my former protege just you wait! Then later your going to be a part of it. I'm going to go get my friends now so just sit tight." Hans then walked out of frame and she heard the door to the mess hall meeting place open then close.

"OK then so where is that seal friend of yours boys? I should have known that there was something hinky about her!" said Athena She then looked up at the chains on her wrists in a studying sort of way the others thought. The screen they were watching her on was about half the size of hers and went in and out a few times. They had a small version of their own screen in the corner and she saw that and grinned inwardly.

"Hey, there's nothing hinky about Hunter!" said Private shocked.

"How are you the paranoid one here?!" said Skipper

"I'm turning into you remember?" she answered grinning. Even Skipper laughed at that one. Though her human team didn't get it at all. "Inside joke guys. Man I was waiting a long time to unleash that one!" As she grinned at the eye roll she got from them she saw Ralph suddenly perk up at something looking really happy, but then Hans came back in and he got a very impassive look and he wasn't alone as promised. All four penguins did a short, but loud, penguin distress call at the same time. The humans and Ralph flinched. "First time I heard them make an actual penguin noise that's for sure!" thought Athena as she saw that a bunch of leopard seals, the biggest of which Hans was standing on the head of, were now sharing close space with her flightless friends. All of them were really big. What she was seeing reminded her of that image she got back at the ice shelter, only it was the wrong team. At least for the moment.

The leopard seals creep-ed the rest of them out as most of them started chanting "Food, food, food!" when they saw the penguins, who visibly gulped.

"Wait one minute you demented dame! Are you going to-?" began Athena reminding Hans of Skipper.

"Oh yeah! Its feeding time! Now wait your turn!" Hans said It sounded almost like a retort. "OK then leader first!" Hans struggled to fly up to land on Skippers head.

While the entire room was fixated on Hans running Skipper down the track so he was directly over the large penguin eaters, who were doing their equal to jumping while snapping at him, Athena pulled herself up the chain and carefully rummaged through her wig with her fingers, grinning when she found what she wanted and how she found a use for the leather belt thing at her waist. "Wait for it!" she thought to keep herself calm.

She nearly lost it though when Skipper turned to his team and said "Its been an honor serving with you boys!" Rico made a sad scared sound while the other two got big eyes.

Hans rolling his own eyes made her angry and all she could think suddenly was the penguin creed of 'Never Swim Alone!' She then started working on the lock on her chains.

Hans had a dark grin on his face as he reached for the release mechanism on Skippers cable while hanging on to the higher portion of cable with his other wing. Skipper couldn't help but curl up with tightly closed eyes while the others couldn't look away even if they tried. Suddenly Hans pulled on something and Skipper slipped a small amount in his bindings, but that was it. He couldn't stop himself from screaming and distress calling at the same time and what a weird sound that was. Hans burst out laughing from his little prank.

"Oh that was so wrong!" shouted Megan in angry tone.

"I know your evil but why in the name of Luna-corns would you do that?!" asked Private in the same tone though there was relief mixed in there.

"Well besides the high amusement factor, the founders of this expedition would be glad to see you Skipper!" said Hans with an oddly telling grin on his face.

"You mean?!" shouted Skipper his eyes getting huge.

"Yup! Your my ticket back home to Denmark!" replied the puffin in triumph. "So you will be watching your men, your lady soldier and the others go before being tranquilized and brought home with me!"

"But Skipper burned the file!" said Private

"Memories are not so easily destroyed young one!"

Skipper turned to the monitor and didn't seem to really notice that he couldn't see Athena as it had gone out again. He knew she could see him though: "Athena! What the heck kind of show you on here?!"

"I didn't know!" said Athena

"You didn't know?!"

"I didn't know! It didn't occurred to me to check for something like that! Shitaki Mushrooms man! But now your going to have to tell me the Denmark Story! Ha ha! Sweetness!"

"Stupid monitor! I wanted to see her face when I- Wait! She seemed a little to happy there!" said Hans getting a sinking feeling. When her picture came back up she was gone. "Oh, this ain't going to be good!" Hans face then went into his wing.

They then heard Athena from outside say: "Hunter!" in a surprised and happy way.

Hans, expecting a frontal attack had his leopard seals face the door just before Athena kicked it open action movie style: "Was that an entrance or what?!"

Still wanting his revenge for her double cross he didn't think before giving an attack order. She stamped the floor twice before pulling the penguin grappling gun that one of the boys dropped in her coat with out knowing and went into the thin, but strong, rafters. Hunter then burst through the few bad floor boards and was followed by her Dad ans some really big friends. As the seals started fighting Athena made for the penguins via the rafters, but Hans went at her face and stunned her. She fell but not to far before she was suddenly penguin-ized, landing on Ralphs back.

"I'll fight the puffin, I got speed on my side, get the others to safety!" he shouted He then threw her into Skipper using a very sharp turn which caused him to slide back into his team. She held on to him until he stopped then she freed them the same way Hans was going to drop them with. They landed in a mass of papers.

"Lets get the humans!" she shouted over the noise of the fighting leopard seals. She got one big group nod before they went into belly slides behind Skipper. They saw that they were already down and untied.

"Ralph said that if we stayed quite Hans wouldn't notice in this dark corner. He got us down after Megan and your cutest member shouted." Ash quickly explained.

"He said make a break for it if we got the chance." said Jeremy

"Well, that simplifies things." said Skipper grinning.

To get the humans out they were penguin-ized one by one with careful timing so they could get through the tunnel Hunter made without a problem. Kowalski went with them to revert them when they were all out. He was back within thirty seconds or so. Just in time to see Hans hit the ground at Athena and Skippers feet. In his anti-cold robot-Esq suit he couldn't stand a chance against his fast flying skua opponent in a dog fight.

"I have been waiting so long to do that! You got no idea!" said Ralph hovering near the ceiling. "Sorry about the double cross Skipper, I had to be sure-"

"Don't worry I get it." said Skipper with a grin. "You had to wait for Hunter to secure your granny on the way to getting her back up. Clever, tell her while we were out. You made up for it with your little delay tactic, freeing the humans and the whole whammy zammy a world of hurt all up Hans backside! Ha! Too good!"

"No wonder your the leader. Man are you quick!" said Ralph Skipper grinned in a 'Oh yeah I am!' sort of way.

"So the-" began Athena

"Like most of my best inventions it works on Macguffium two-thirty-nine! So it doesn't need to be charged." said Kowalski proudly. No sooner had he said that then Hans eyes suddenly snapped open and he quickly rolled backwards kicking both Skipper and Athena down. Once on his feet he looked like he was going to attack them again until: "Don't even think about it!" Kowalski pointed his device right at him.

"You wouldn't dare!" said Hans not looking to happy about this turn of tides.

"Would you like to try me?" Kowalski asked in a dark tone that was so unlike him that it caused the others feathers to raise a bit. Clearly he was still angry about the prank Hans pulled on Skipper before.

"No I wouldn't in fact." replied Hans looking down right scared of Kowalski now. Said penguin grinned. They all jumped though when suddenly Hans put his wings into his beak and whistled loudly, making the somewhat tired by now leopard seal turn and see them. They had been so caught up in their fight they had forgotten that they were there. The penguins froze long enough for Hans to get off a short laugh and escape through Hunters tunnel. Hunter screamed as they all went for the them.

"Wild ride time! Boys grab on!" shouted Athena as she pulled Kowalskis laser from her feathers and pointed it at the floor while with her other wing signaling Hunter out though her tunnel.

"Are you nuts?!" yelled Private as they did as told.

"Gee I hope so or this probably wouldn't work!" she answered before firing. Because of the extreme temperature changes it went through the laser was damaged. That caused it to explode in just the right way for them to be propelled upwards, though it was pure luck that they didn't get hurt when it happened. At the right time Rico hacked up one of his bombs to make a hole in the ceiling. Hunter made sure to catch them on her back outside. She growled and roared at all the other seals to back off before saying: "These are my penguins hear me?!" She then winked at Athena, who grinned at her. Her Dad, who was the biggest seal there, got them all to go and went with them. "I got a question Kowalski. Would you have really turned Hans into a penguin?"

"If I had to, I was just waiting for him to give me a reason!" said Kowalski looking just a little crazy.

"Yup, you never want to make a slightly mad scientist angry! Or anyone who has the word 'mad' in their title really." said Athena grinning.

"I know that's right!" said Rico it coming out garbled, though Athena didn't need translations for that much anymore.

"Speaking of the puffin it just stinks that he got away again." said Skipper before jumping off Hunters back. He kicked a bit of snow out of annoyance.

"Oh no he didn't!" said Ash as he and his team walked up. Ash held him tightly in his arm as he struggled to get loose.

"And its the researchers with the assist! Nice!" said Athena

She got grins for that before Morty asked "How did you get out of the lab?" Hans stopped struggling at the question.

"I pulled myself up using the chain and got a pin from my hair. Using that strap that was supposed to keep me from swinging to kind of stand on so I didn't tired my arms as I used the pin to pick the lock. Then at the right time I used the chain to move my leg fully away from the leather thing then dropped to the floor with the silence of a cat." she explained "Timing the whole endeavor with the blackouts of the monitor."

"Where you a ninja or something at some point? Because that was awesome! We couldn't tell from how your were talking that you were doing anything!" said Megan

"Nah, Skippers training is just that good." Athena answered giving Skipper a pat. He grinned.

"Well I must say that you make a cute penguin though." said Ash

She snorted and shrugged: "And there better not be any boyfriend cracks either!"

"Yeah we all know that you fancy Tony!" said Private grinning.

Athena blushed enough to make her white feathers turn pink: "Hey that's my tease at Rory!"

"And by the pink to white feather ratio on your face in say its back in it right place!" said Kowalski using his abacus grinning.

"Wait, there's a formula for that?!" asked Athena jumping slightly.

"Yeah there's one for pretty much everything." grinned Megan

"Oh I like that one!" said Kowalski in a mock love-dove voice. Everyone but Hans snorted at that as Athenas face went into her wing. Said puffin used the moment of amusement though to try to get free. He bite Ash on the arm to get him to let go, then he went to Ashs shoulder and jumped into the air to try and fly away.

"Kowalski! Bring him down!" shouted Skipper pointing at Hans.

He came forward aiming The Penguin-izer at Hans when he suddenly tripped and it fired. The beam hit Private making him glow: "What just happened?!"

"Well since you can't penguin-ize a penguin I'd say that you have be galvanized!" said Athena Kowalski blinked at her for coming up with the answer at his type of speed.

"And what dose that mean exactly?" Private quickly asked.

"It means that you got a huge power boost. Go man go!" said Kowalski

Private bolted towards Ash who threw him up at Hans. Him hitting Hans made them fall into the snow and a fight started. Because of his boost in power Private held his own almost as well as Skipper would have. They saw this as they ran over. Just as the power stated to ware off Hans tried to hit him with a piece of ice so Athena took The Penguin-izer from Kowalski and blasted Hans with it, as she had the better angle: "You can revert him when we got him secured in a crate bound for Denmark Kowalski." she said as he looked a bit sulky.

"Sounds good, but you know he will be back." he said

"Yeah, but not for a while." she said grinning.

Meanwhile Hans was looking himself over in shock: "What did you do?! I can't- I don't want- AAAA! I'm a penguin!"

"And ugly one at that!" said both Ash and Private. For some reason he still retained some of his former puffin looks, though not much. It was possibly because he was already a type of bird to begin with. They all pondered this as Private put Hans in the wing hold and brought him over. They sent Hans to Denmark the next morning though now Antarctica was in darkness of winter so it seemed more like night time. Once secured Kowalski turned him back into a puffin after suggesting that they just send him as is so that they would think he was Skipper.

"If he didn't make such an ugly penguin I would say yes, but they would know that wasn't me." said Skipper looking both disappointed and proud as he got to burn Hans, who was now glaring daggers at him.

This made the still penguin-ized Athena bust up laughing: "Nice one Skipper!"

"I got a question for you Athena." said Private as they turned to head back to the base camp. They were going to stay for the rest of the expedition.

"Yeah?"

"Our laser fueled get away where we landed on Hunters back. Where did that come from?"

"I was inspired by how you guys got out of the ground after the Big One Test." she answered grinning. "Hence the reason I said 'wild ride time' and it was!"

After the research expedition was over, during which the penguins and Hunter helped a great deal and Ralph got reunited with his granny, they decided that they were going to head home by way of the sub. Athena, who had finely been reverted by now, was packing and started going nuts when she couldn't find Rorys camera. Morty knocked saying he had found it. He and the others were outside.

"Sweet!" she said "Question: Are you guy really funded by Denmark or was Hans just trying to freak Skipper out?"

"We are but that's it really, you notice that they didn't talk to us at all this whole time. Only our bosses did. They were impressed with you by the way."

"Yay me!" said Athena grinning. " So what are you guys doing at my shack? We are not going yet and I'm taking the name plate as a keepsake." They weren't surprised by that and grinned.

"Apparently 'we didn't see anything'. Or at least that is what Skipper wants so to speak." said Jeremy "We figured they were going to do some Men In Black memory thing to us." They weren't at all surprised that the commando penguins were supposed to be on the down low rather like ninja.

Athena blinked in surprise at that then again when Kowalski, after jumping onto her shoulder, pulled something from his feathers that looked like the thing from that movie trilogy. "Its my Sonic Brain Eraser." he said in the matter of fact voice he was know for.

"Wow, I'm surprised you showed up." said Skipper with a slight grin for some reason as he and the other two came out of the shack as they heard their voices.

Him and the others jumped when Athena fought with Kowalski to get his little gizmo away from him. She didn't want them to get blasted as she had gotten attached to them and thought the others had too. She knew Hunter did anyway and nothing bad came up on the background checks Skipper annoyed her into doing when she was on breaks. She shrieked when it flashed in her face. It being dark made it way bright.

"Uh Kowalski?!" asked everyone looking nervous.

"Don't worry shes just a bit stunned. It needs to be warmed up before it completely works." said Kowalski looking slightly amused by the odd bulgy eyed look on Athenas face.

"I didn't know it was on. Wow! I'm seeing spots! Dude multi colors!" said Athena blinking like crazy. "Things like this are the reason why I don't go into the little guys lab anymore!"

Kowalski laughed: "Yeah, shes a bit clumsy in there. Hence she didn't want to do lab work here."

"Yeah, I don't get it. I turn in to a total idiot in labs. Its just weird!" she said as her vision just started to come back as she continued blinking. Her eyes were huge.

"OK I got a question for you humans. Are going to be doing anymore stuff that has any connection to Denmark?" said Skipper suddenly.

"No, in fact our next expedition is going to be funded by Norway and will be in the North Pole." said Morty

"How about it Skipper, is that your second Denmark?" said Ash laughing.

"Nah, I got nothing against those cheese slicing sons of Vikings." said Skipper after a snort.

"Well that good to hear." said Megan grinning.

"We also got some friends up there too. Maybe you'll run into each other." said Skipper turning to go back into Athenas shack.

Athena, who had her eyes shut waiting for her vision to come back, heard the others humans sounds of confusion: "What?"

"Skipper didn't have Kowalski, or you seeing as you still got the thing, zap us." said Jeremy "He just going back inside with the other two. Kowalski is still on your shoulder."

"Say what now?!" said Athena "And I thought I dropped it."

"Nope but when you can see like a normal person again give it back. We won't be needing it after all, as long as they promise not to talk about us and mention that they are on call should we ever need their help." Skipper said grinning then he shut the door.

Athena grinned completely amazed by Skipper now: "Tony and I got the same deal, so I'm just going to need your contact Intel then because I know you won't tell." They nodded and took out flashlights to do just that. After: "Who warned you what Skipper was up to anyway?"

"Ralph." they all said at the same time. What they did not know was that Skipper told him to warn them ahead of time. The penguin leader could be crafty when he wanted to be. He didn't mind trying to be more trusting like the other wanted him to be, but he was going to do it in his own style.

Athena was happy that Skipper was trying to be less paranoid. She also f new now that it was Hans made him that way or at least was a big contributing factor, it was in the shocked look that he gave Hans while he was tied up. She was getting good at reading these guys and thinking about this as she gave The Sonic Brain Eraser back. "So have you guys called the plane to bring you to the docks to wait for the ship yet?"

"No, why?" they all said at the same time, which was followed by: "Man we really got to stop doing that! Gr!" Team Skipper all laughed at that, including Skipper and the two skua who could hear from inside.

"Maybe you could come back with us then. These guys got a fast sub!" Athena said 'sub' in a sing song voice. "Course you'd have to be penguin-ized again like me so you can fit."

They seemed to not mind that much. Ash even said "I thought it was kind of fun to be honest." Athena laughed and they shared a high five. Shortly after that they finished packing and asked Skipper if they all could go in the sub. He was fine with that. Then they headed back to New York after saying goodbye to Hunter. The two skua came to because they thought Antarctica sucked. They planned on hanging with the falcons of the city if they could. On the way Athena told the others who she really was and found that Hans already had while gloating after he had captured everyone. It was while she was still in la la land.

Tony was there to get them in a secluded place of the docks and he was very confused when there was so many of them until Kowalski came out of the sub with The Penguin-izer. He was there because Athena had shot him an e-mail from the camp.

"Oh there is a good story here!" said Tony

"Speaking of good stories, you forgot to tell us the Denmark story Skipper!" said Athena

"I didn't forget I just didn't tell you." said Skipper grinning until all the former humans and Private tackled him much to the amusement of Kowalski, Rico, and Tony. "Fine! You freaks Sheesh! But not here."

The ones who knew him blinked in surprise and went: "OK!" in a perky tone and got off him. After the sub was put into one of its non-HQ hiding places Kowalski reverted the ones who needed it and they got into Tonys car. They went to drop Rorys house to give her the camera, before dropping off the research team off at a nice hotel. They were on their way to the zoo to drop the penguins when suddenly Tonys phone went off. It was Rory. Athena shushed the boys and put on speaker for him.

"Sorry I was at the mall when you dropped off the camera. Hey Athena! Why didn't you answer your phone?" asked Rory

"It got left on the boat after a accidentally crushed it under my big feet." answered Athena Watching Tony fight back a Julian like comment. "So whats up?"

"I was just wondering what Hans was doing in Antarctica?" she answered

"Hold on for a second OK girl? Wait go back a little bit?!" said Athena turning to look at Skipper and the others in the backseat. She repeated the question. "I thought I had Kowalski make sure there wasn't anything on the memory card like Hans! And how dose she know who he is?!"

"I was going to but Skipper thought that this would be funnier." said Kowalski grinning while the others snorted. "Besides you wanted her in the fold anyway."

"I shot Tony an email with Ashs help to let her in. We may need her scooter again and I just figured this would be easier for you, unless your going to get a car." said Skipper with laughter in his voice.

"I don't drive I'm a New Yorker!" said Athena making them all laugh. "How long have you been waiting to unleash this little gag on me?"

"Way to long! Just needed the right opportunity!" said Private

Athena made a face: "Oh your all going to pay for this!" She then got back on with Rory, who was laughing so hard she was crying, then the Antarctica story was told. They next day they all met up with the researchers and Skipper told the Denmark story at last, after patching in with Tasha and Aurora in California on a secure line. It took a bit of convincing for the humans that 'open faced sandwiches' wasn't code for something. "And yet another reminder of just how weird my friends and enemies are!" said Athena grinning. "It never gets old!"

**The End**

_~Authors Note: Where there you have it! The end of my second trilogy! I hope you like it. It was fun to write. The idea for this came from the author Dodectron and I pulled out all the stops on this one! [witch cackle] OK maybe that was a bit much! [blushes] Oh and on a side note, aloe juice comes in bottles and is actually quite tasty. Well, anyway people you know the drill review if you like just no being mean. And of course the disclaimer that I put down here because I can: I don't own The Penguins Of Madagascar. Dream Works/Nickelodeon dose.~_

_~Over & Out~ _


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